tvc.dsj.org | May 7, 2019 CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
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Bellarmine Robotics Team Wins Regional Tournament
Bellarmine College Prep’s Robot-
ics Team 254: The Cheesy Poofs, in
collaboration with FIRST Robotics
Competition (FRC) Team 5499, The
Bay Orangutans; and Team 6418,
The Missfits; won the Silicon Valley
Regional Tournament, held March
29-31 at the San Jose State University
Events Center. In its victory, Bel-
larmine earned its 20th Blue Banner
at the tournament and received the
Engineering in Excellence Award
sponsored by Delphi for its robot,
Backlash.
“We were very excited to earn
our 20th Blue Banner at the Silicon
Valley Regional,” said Mr. Sachin
Salgaonkar, Bellarmine faculty mem-
ber and co-moderator of the Robotics
team. “I would say that our record
did not really tell the full story. The
tournament definitely had a fair bit
of drama. Backlash ran into a few
issues during the qualifying rounds.
The 254 Pit Crew and our excellent
technical mentors were able to iden-
tify the problems and patch it for
competition.”
Bellarmine’s Team 254 and alliance partners Team 5499 and Team 6418 pose with robot
Backlash after winning at the 2019 Silicon Valley Regional.
There were 59 teams registered to
compete in the tournament, includ-
ing one from Turkey and five teams
from China. A total of 43 Bellarmine
students participated on Team 254.
“I only heard compliments from
other teams about our alliance readi-
ness crew,” noted Salgaonkar while
conveying praise for the students,
indicating that many remained long
after the event had ended so they
could assist with clean-up at San Jose
State University’s Event Center and
tear down the field.
Next for The Cheesy Poofs is the
FIRST Championship in Houston,
Texas, taking place April 17-20, with
more than 250 teams competing.
In addition to Mr. Salgaonkar,
Bellarmine’s Robotics Team is co-
moderated by faculty members Ann
Johnson and Brad Lindemann.
Team 254 from Bellarmine par-
ticipates in the VEX Robotics Com-
petition (VEX) as well as the FIRST
Robotics Competition (FRC). As a
three-time world champion (2011,
2014, 2017), the most decorated team
in FIRST, and a member of both the
VEX and FRC Hall of Fames, Team
254’s goal is to inspire other robotics
teams and our community through
STEM outreach in the spirit of FIRST’s
Gracious Professionalism.
More information regarding
Catholic Schools in the
Diocese of San Jose can be
found at www.dsj.org/schools.
J U N E 1 1 – J U LY 1 9
Queen of Apostles fifth graders Living Museum.
Queen of Apostles Students
Bring History to Life
The fifth grade class at Queen of
Apostles School brought history to
life during a recent class activity.
Students each read a biography or
autobiography about a person of
their choice. After reading the books
and learning about the life of the
individual, they created posters and
“became” the person. Parents and the
fourth grade class was invited to the
living museum where they asked the
fifth graders questions. The fifth grad-
ers then answered as the individual
would have.
C a m p s a n d classes f or 1st –12th gr ad er s
Register now at
bcp.org/summer